Kone, an L.A. based producer who recently signed on with Alpha Pup, describes his music as “psychedelic gangster funk.” Sample heavy, with each song an ever-layering progression based around snippets of running male commentary about scientific philosophy (possibly by or about Ludwig Wittgenstein), The Tractatus is like a shopping cart of sounds, and each track throws a new aisle’s worth of magic into the basket.

[Read more →]

Tyler’s production is entirely homemade, which is definitely a plus, and features assorted Odd Future members. With sounds ranging from punky keyboards to synths back to R&B, Goblin sonically has it all. With that point, Tyler the Creator doesn’t give a fuck what you think about him, and that’s what he has in common with many of the greats who preceded him.

[Read more →]

His second LP shows what a vivid imagination the Ann Arbor-turned-L.A. producer has, knitting together a series of vignettes that delve into hip-hop and pop and electro-funk, with pixilated explosions punctuated by retro synths, and heavy bass lines, and samples of what sounds like clay pots smashing on a deck and being dragged across concrete.

[Read more →]

He started out in the early 90s as Butterfly of Grammy-winning, jazzy, smooth-rapping trio Digable Planets (remember who taught you how to be “Cool Like Dat?”), and then, after a seven-year hiatus, he returned as the singer of velvety electro-funk band Cherrywine. Six years later, he dropped twin EPs with Afro-Arabian imagery, Shabazz Palaces and Of Light, as the mysterious and press-evasive Palaceer Lazaro of Shabazz Palaces. Black Up is Butler’s debut LP as “Shabazz”—the first hip hop record ever for Seattle indie powerhouse Sub Pop—and here we find Ish at the top of his game

[Read more →]